This is a test fersure. The team (as in everyone) must rise to this challenge. It certainly presents an opportunity to guys like Dubi, Boyle, Lisin, AA. These guys can really make a difference in a game like this. These are good players than probably have more to show and more they can do to help the team win.

If Avery and Higgins are banged up and do not play, I like that there calling up Byers and not Grachev yet.

Grachev still needs seasoning in the AHL.

And Byers def deserves his chance to play in some NHL games

Him and PA could have made the team if there were spots open on the 3rd and 4th lines for them

Its also a good sign that in training camp we had at least 3 or 4 players that could have made the team, but there was jsut no room for them

ITs a GREAT problem to have so many players in our system NHL ready or close to ready. Maybe this will light a fire under Higgins butt to know if he isnt producing, there’s guys on the Wolf PAck waiting to take his job

I think if Gaborik doesnt play tonight the injury must be serious. His former team of what, 5 seasons? Not to mention the fact that it is the ONLY time this season they play eachother? Those fans in Minnesota are gonna be laughing, because thats why he is gone. GLASS CANNON.

MikeyNJ- Byers at his best is a third line player and we have plenty of these. He is a tough guy, but who is he going to fight, Boggard? That’d be a very short one.
Grachev, on the other hand is projected as a top 6 player. How else does he get an NHL experience if not at the beginning of the season?

Nice work CCCP regarding “it.” I think that should be placed at the beginning of all threads for the next couple of days, til “it”‘s cognizance of his depression and actual level of depression meet up and he decides to find the nearest rope…

Orr – Dane Byers is a future NHL player. He’s a skilled power forward that has put up some quality numbers. His problem was that tore his ACL last year so lost his shot at getting called up. I’d rather him over Grachev because as good as Grachev is in regards to raw talent, he still needs work to learn the system and speed of the game. A year in the AHL will do wonders for him. No need to rush the kid when you have other guys who can come in.

Also this was from a few posts ago but people were asking how we were going to compete against physical teams when we let the Isles run over us. Remember not to long ago when they played the Ducks, they were extremely physical, especially in the offensive zone. They show up against physical teams that are good. Its the aggressive lesser skilled teams they have a tendency to slack off against.

hey local fan. did you not tell us you travelled to japan and were some sort of trader in the business world. you seem to post a lot for someone with such an important position. or were you full of bs regarding your business career.

Orr – I never said Byers would be a top line guy. But if we need players to fill 3rd and 4th line spots, he can do it and be a scoring threat. He’s a pretty solid skater, he hits, and he loves to park himself in front of the net (which is where he gets his goals). I don’t know how much you’ve watched him play in Hartford, but I loved it when he was healthy. He was clearly one of their best guys.

This is a good test for the team. I’d rather guys go down now than in March like in the year after the lockout when our team pretty much fell apart because everyone was hurt. Hossa was the only one scoring…and that wasn’t like he did the year after.

“ORR- Drury’s not injured? Come on. He has to be. No one making that much money would be playing so bad. I think he lost his heart. That’s a bad injury”

Yeah, Dreary lost his heart after he accidentally pitched it in that Little League World Series game. All those years in Buffalo, he was playing with Connolly’s since he never had a chance to use his, since he was always injured.

DDEB

I don’t want them to die, or have a career ending injury, but i don’t want useless players in the lineup. And if we’re lucky, Slats realizes how useless Dreary is, and that we don’t need him, and he’ll swallow his pride and try to trade him.

Honestly, LA is looking like a good team this year, and if they’re willing to take Dreary’s salary, i think we can make a trade. Dreary has a house in LA, and a bunch of friends. That’s where he goes in the summer, i think he’d accept the trade.

I can imagine him leaving with his family to drive to LA in the clutch mobile. It would be just like the ending of that two Corey’s movie, License To Drive. Hilarious !

Way too much negativity here….. some of you need to chill !!
So we lost to the bottom feeders…… big deal. The Isles played a good but undisciplined game like they had 20 Hollwegs skating around out there, Torts use 112 different line combinations, we hit 4 posts and a crossbar, and a rookie made a big mistake….. let’s not pack in and cry in our cheerios kids !!!!
If this is happening after the Olympic break, feel free to get a little nervous, but for now just enjoy some hockey and be fans and support your team !!!!!

And ill also add what does it matter if you guys respond or dont respond? To me I just like to put my thoughts out there… and I will be putting my thoughts out there until the Devils win the Cup and ill actually feel bad rubbing it in your faces.

I think all Nyr fans should be concerned. Cause Gabby IS INJUUUUUUURED !!!!

I honestly thought he might get hurt during the Olympics, or maybe after, but this is way too soon. Im worried, im getting gray hairs, im not sure if i have to consider viagra yet, but this injury is killing my health.

We need to lock Gabby up in one of those bubbles, like in that episode of Seinfeld, with the bubble boy. Protect him at all costs ! Seriously, imagine Kim Kardashian riding Gabby, his hips would shatter, and his organs would probably explode out of his poop loop. Imagine if he had lice !!! His brains would probably melt !!!!

This Gaborick not playing tonight concerns me, we have only played 13 games and he already not playing. And I am not saying he should, if he is hurt he SHOULD NOT play. But how many preseason games did he miss. Is he that much of a lightweight and can’t hold up to NHL play???
Well this should be a interesting game as we all should remember their record does not mean a thing. (Islosenders) Lets just hope this is the end of injury, for everyone. Which leads me to another point, Torts style of play may be more prone to injury then Renny’s. But there is no stopping us now. I should be around for the game tonight, chat more then

I swear to g-d I think the real mikey is really Chris Drury..Dreary says the same stuff…any team would take this…blah blah blah.
He should be saying how concerned he is of how pathetic he has been playing in addtion to the outlook of the even more pathetic New York Rangers organization..for years to come I may add…

Orr,
I agree with your opinion on Dubi. Artie has been much better in every aspect of the game. Dubi of late has been a turnover machine…and he better start stepping it up or the boo’s may rain down on him.

We were very lucky last year with regards to injuries….It is definitely better that we have these injuries early on in the season…This can serve as a wake up call to some of the players (cough cough DRURY hello time to turn it up just a bit)….lets get it done tonight-pumped its a friday night game-whoooooooooos drinking!

Right now, maybe im being a little too hard on Dubi, but the way i see it, i kind of wished he got traded, depending on the return. Honestly, a line of Prospal, Gabby, and Heatley would have been amazing. Maybe at the time, we woudl all say “Prospal centering those two ?? Hell no”, but obviously it would have been great.

But i think Murray wanted a few more pieces, like McDonagh, etc.

Im just extremely disappointed in this guy. I honestly thought he’d be a whole new player, especially after the BS he put the team through with his contract garbage, but he’s the same old player.

Im not giving up on the kid just yet, but like i said, im not happy with his start to the season.

Somebody is clearly not ignoring me..as he posted the whole chico thing under my name.
Chico did win an Emmy!
And Doc is obviously the best in the business and in the Hall of fame..
id take that over Mic and Nosen.

I don’t know what hope there is for Dubinsky. He’s going to be a decent third, maybe second line guy, but for the stink he made in training camp you’d think he would be bringing more. Especially with Gaborik and Prospal. How come those two are racking up the points and Dubinsky, on the same line, is nowhere near those totals?

I had it out with some lady at work today who I just don’t get along with. She comes and says to me, “You don’t like me and it is obvious, what is your problem with me.” I told her the truth and that I don’t agree with how she deals with kids or her policies. I told her that she is not ever really that friendly to me either. And then, with a straight face, I looked her in the eyes and said, “You get what you give, but I then give a little bit more, so if you give me crap (I really used a different word) I in turn give you diarrhea.” HAHAHAHAHAHA

Dubinsky is looking very 40 point-ish this year, unfortunately. If he did get on the same page as someone it’d be a different story. Maybe they could try him on the wing, but he definitely looks like a more natural center. It’s just like last year so far, you’re expecting a breakout and it doesn’t look like it will happen. Still early, though.

Has Dubinskys “sophmore slump” (i belive thats the term you all used) turned into what we can expect from him here on out?
What is up with the regression of Marc Staal? Seriously???? Even I loved this guy and wished he was on the NEW JERSEY DEVILS…but now?? have you guys seen him “play” this season? Absolutely dreadful.

A) why is my NHLPA comment awaiting moderation? Is it because I posted links from canoe.ca and tsn.ca? It’s a pretty big news story since the NHLPA execs have pretty much all stepped down.

B) Whoever thought Dubinsky was going to be more than a 40-50 point guy was crazy (coughStanFischlercough). Kid is good, but to me he’s a very poor man’s Vinny Lecavalier. He’s got speed and strength and decent hands, but he doesn’t have the finish like Vinny. He’s going to be a solid player, but nothing to go crazy over. I said that 2 years ago and I’m sticking to it.

Speaking of Vinny, maybe we can put together a sweet package for Vinny, throwing Dubi in there.

The guy is definitely getting traded this season. It would be awesome to bring him to NYR. Vinny 1, Vinny 2, and Gabby. Sweetness !!!

I don’t have anything against Doc Emrick, but i hate Chico. My favorite Doc Emrick quote was during a Devils game 2 season ago. He said “(Random player) creamed by White), after Colin White threw a big hit at someone. Doc is a flat out perv !

It wouldn’t surprise me if handies were going on under the booth during a Debbies broadcast.

“He told me I was the biggest, fattest bleeping pig he had ever seen,” recounted Boudreau in his book. “He told me I was fatter than bleeping Ken Hitchcock. He told me I was going to die because I was such a fat bleep.”

From TSN:
The drama continues to unfold at the National Hockey League Players’ Association with news that interim executive director Ian Penny has parted ways with the organization. While Penny resigned his position with the NHLPA on Friday, he believes he was effectively dismissed.

I’m telling you, the league will eat the NHLPA alive during the next CBA. Garry must be drooling all over it. They need to get their act together.

Gaborik only has a minor shoulder injury. Though this may be an unpleasant foreshadowing of the playoffs. I mean, the question becomes how many games will thsi guy play during the season and playoffs. Without him, not only will remain scoreless, but more importantly, he generates many quality scoring chances for guys who don’t score very often. So that’s why we get 1 and 2 goal games without him. I bet Drury is hurt. He’s invisible out there as of late.

Personally I don’t see getting worried about Gabby right now. He’s not injury prone like everyone says. He had the same groin injury over and over and over again. The problem was they kept treating the groin and not the apparent source of the injury, his hip. The man goes knee to knee with Prucha and has to sit a couple of games, big deal. Did you see how Avery hurt his knee? He fell down, not even awkwardly, and he’s already missing a game. If Gabby’s out 2 or 3 weeks I’ll be concerned but he’s already back to skating. My opinion, it’s a bone bruise, he’ll be back next week sometime.

Jason – Drury isn’t hurt, he’s just not good. I said that when we signed him for a salary he didn’t deserve.

Sally – I personally have never said Dubinsky was going to be some great player. I think he can be really good, but just because he started hot (he was playing with 2 guys who can put up PPG in a season), doesn’t mean he can consistently put up points. He’s solid, but for some reason our fans try to make him out to be a player that he is not.

Prucha – I think Gabby got hurt on a hit in the 2nd period. I know they say it was the 3rd period, but he went into the boards and got hit by 2 guys on the Coyotes and looked kind of awkward. He skated OK after that, but his leg got clipped weird and then he probably reaggrevated it in the 3rd. Probably some type of charlie horse that he wants to make sure goes away so it isn’t a nagging injury that slows him down.

I don’t know Jay.
I played through it last night but this morning holy Sh**! It hurt to walk, plus now I’ve been adjusting people all day so its sore. I don’t think I torn anything…because there would be no way I could have finished playing. I think I just sprained it pretty good.
It has to get better, I skate Monday again.

drury just is captain useless. he adds nothing to this team. he will end up getting 8 million for blocking shots and making clutch clears on the pk. how can we pay a betts clone 8 million a year!!1! how??? and why is torts making him more of a defensive center? make him earn his money!!! on that last goal, staal just has no confidence. hes got zero offensive skill, yet tries to be brian leetch. and where has cally and duby and prospal been? i dont think any of them have had even a chance to shoot the puck. this is actually worse than the isles game, if thats even possible. so without gabby, were basically a renny team without the defense. great combo!!

What is this team going to do. Bitten with the injury bug and a mistake riddled team. I thought Torts and his benching of players was supposed to teach them accountability/responsibility and how to better themselves.

Without Gabby, we cannot afford to commit turnovers all over the ice and allow relatively simple goals. We allowed something like 18 shots against the Maple Leafs, i know i know, with hard work defensively. If we allowed 25 shots against Spaghetti Valiquette, we might have been looking at 3 GA instead of 0

Torts has to either rethink this so called system or reteach it. These guys don’t have a clue what their doing. I realise that it’s a light line up, but even so they should be better. This is hard to watch.

Ive decided to be a thief for Halloween, it’s the only part i really know how to play. My wife is gonna be tramp, from the Disney movie, and my kids are gonna be Hannah Montana, and wear authentic Hannah Montana clothes, because i can afford them.

its times like these that make you appreciate 94. holy hell is that the last time we had a team witha set of balls? i mean they had a big giant red white n blue bean bag sack. this is probably one of the softest and emotionless teams the rangers ever had. wheres drury charging up the ice and gettin his nose dirty in the crease? weheres our d men to knock these punks off the puck? they cant even clear it 5 on 5 for minutes at a time. bunch of slackjawed maggots

I don’t like to fight, i don’t like fighting, it makes me sad because im soft. Im so ugly i cant have a girlfriend, and when i do they use me for my money, and leave me. That’s why i hug people when i fight, because i just want love.

I am a Knicks fan, but i dont care about the knicks games. I just happened to wonder how they came back from 30 points. Would be kind of nice to either finish in last place or make the playoffs to help sway players to coming here next year.

i am just watchin now just to see if we get any sustained pressure. i dont think weve had one odd man rush, or any good shots besides byers. thats sad. lets see if duby, cally or drury do something. looks like torts doesnt even wanna coach this team anymore. just put a mannequin back there with a mad look on its face

They badly need to work on their passing. If they aren’t passing it aimlessly they’re missing each other’s blades by a lot or handcuffing the recipients. That really kills the flow trying to move it up ice. They make way too many low percentage cross ice passes as well.

I really don’t understand why year after year, this team does the same old carp. We have half a new team this year and a new coach, and yet the same garbage play happens now as has ALWAYS happened. The team never plays sixty minutes, nobody gives any effort, and they make the same bonehead plays. This is just the same old junk over and over again.

so we have really hit a low point huh. it wasnt even remotely exciting. this was not a “safe is death” hockey game. this was 18 neutered ballerinas figure skating. nothing positive to take from this at all. avery and higgins wouldnt have done anything anyway. so actually it wouldve been 3-1 cuz byers wouldnt be playing. not much to like about this team right now. ok all, have a ggreat night, and hope duby,drury,rozy all get jumped by trick or treaters tommorow and get injured so we can just call up the rest of the pack to score our goals for us.

cccp- remember when dru hit someone behind minnys net and just kinda tapped the puck in front but it hit the skate of backstrom? jowe was like” oh good play by drury, he steals the puck and does a great job to get it free and send it in front” or somethin liek that. i sware that was probably the 2nd time dru had even touched the puck the whole night. this team has gotten so boring lately!! this is the kinda crap that makes hockey unwatchable for the casual fan. if i was a casual fan or trying to get a casual or non fan into hockey, this one game alone would turn me off of it forever. how does torts not get these guys ready to play a freakin hockey game? they dont even pass the puck to ach other anymore, they just play pinball across the ice. anybody see the original dawn of the dead, where theyre in the shopping mall and at the end they show the zombies in the hockey rink and u see a couple of them layin and playing on the ice,falling down,limping around aimlessly and knocking the goal net around? lol it reminded me of that scene from the movie!!